Delivering a rare speech to the Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government last night, outgoing Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill told the audience that there is a need for a “fundamental review” of pay, progression and pensions in the civil service; claiming there has been a “decade of pay restraint” for mandarins. Guido’s heart bleeds…

“Over the past decade, part of the impetus for rising churn among our best officials has been a decade of pay restraint. Some of our most talented have gone… [there] should be a fundamental review of pay, progression, of pensions and of the ACOBA rules”

The bemoaning of civil servant pay shows particular brass neck coming as it did just a day after the Mail on Sunday revealed the staggering extent of bonuses being dished out in Whitehall, with Sir Mark himself pocketing a bonus of between £15,000–£20,000 this year – on top of his £205,000 salary and £250,000 exit settlement.

Other eye-watering taxpayer bonuses include:

• £15,000–£20,000 for £270,000-a-year Chief Trade Negotiation Adviser Crawford Falconer
• £5,000 for Home Office Director of Programming Diana Luchford
• Up to £15,000 for outgoing visas and immigration boss Mark Thomson
• Up to £10,000 for Immigration Enforcement Director General Tyson Hepple

Thankfully the civil service is reforming pay and bonuses – in the taxpayer’s favour with a £95,000 cap on redundancy payouts…